A package management system can facilitate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages associated with a client computer. The software packages can contain a set of related files chosen to perform a given application or task, such as, for example, a group of software applications, drivers, and/or other resources used to install and use messaging or media applications. In instances, a software package can contain application software, operating system software, drivers, patches, and/or other software components grouped as a logical set. In implementations, the package can be stored or encoded as a single file or data object.
Package managers exist to help a user initiate and perform software package updates, such as, for example, the “yum” (Yellowdog update manager) package manager available from Red Hat™, Inc., Raleigh, N.C., and others. In general, available package managers are configured to interact with the set of installed software packages on a client and with one or more software package repositories, to directly connect to those databases and download available package updates.
The package manager itself can have a software version to facilitate the software package updates. Over time, updated versions for the package manager software can be developed to accommodate changes in software packages or software repositories. However, the ability to update the software packages can depend on a certain version of the package manager software being installed on a client. It may therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for determining when to update a package manager software to ensure compatibility between a package manager software and an update to resources installed on the client. Further, it may be desirable to update the package manager software without impacting the associated packages and resources.